Softened Metal
by ArtisticOutlet
Summary: Dealing with the aftermath of the Earth Empire's invasion of Republic City was easy for no one, especially not for the one who caused it. As the weight of Kuvira's actions plunges her deeper towards the abyss, a looming shadow begins to rise in the wake of the destruction. And what exactly is the Avatar's role in all of this?(Notice: The new prologue now begins the rewrite)


**Prologue**

She had failed. Everything that she had fought so bitterly for was now over and done, another mark upon the canvas of history. Whether it was a horrible stain or an elegant stroke, she couldn't be sure. She had believed that all she had done was for her country and people, but the blinding light of her own death machine peeled away her convictions and left her feeling raw and exposed.

From the day she set out from Zaofu, she had been determined to save her home from the chaos that resulted from the death of a tyrant. She could still remember the horrors in Ba Sing Se from the early, and perhaps more naive, days of her conquest. The events that occured behind those walls opened her eyes to the true cruelty of the world. It was a cruelty that she would pay any price to withhold from her people and pay it she had.

Whether it had been an entire millenia or just a single minute that passed by, she could not tell. Starting from her toes and crawling it's way up into her head, a warmth unlike any she had ever felt before spread through her body and into her very soul. Feeling in her limbs began to come back and she felt herself being held up by something, or rather someone. When she opened her eyes, fear was her only response.

"Gah!" She stumbled back and shoved the woman in front of her away.

She backed off from her opponent, adrenaline now coursing through her, and tried to get in a defensive stance with what little strength she had left. Her movements were clumsy and strained, unlike the grace and poise her body was accustomed to. Her whole body felt heavy, as if she were carrying an enormous burden of crushing weight on her shoulders. This weakness was a foreign feeling for someone so accustomed to power, but it wasn't enough to totally crush her will. If there was a fight to be had, then she would have it. Alas, there was no more battle ahead.

Her initial fear was quickly replaced with awe and confusion as she gazed beyond her foe towards the lands that surrounded them. A colorful landscape stretched on before her with colors that seemed entirely unnatural and foreign. She stood in a vast field of deep purple that stretched on until it met cliffs of soft blue as if they were made of ice instead of stone. A few dark trees dotted the landscape with their ancient and twisted shapes. A gigantic pillar of what could only be described as pure energy pierced the royal blue skies with it's green and yellow hue. All around it, sparks of infinite colors danced around the column in chaotic but somehow natural ways. The whole thing made her feel so small and insignificant, a far cry from how she had been only moments ago. It was truly an incredible, yet terrifying, sight to behold.

"Where am I?" Kuvira finally managed to blurt out. "Am I dead?"

"No." Came a calm reply. "At least, I don't think so."

The reply to her rhetorical question startled Kuvira. In her awe invoked stupor, she had forgotten that she wasn't alone and her enemy stood only yards away. Her foe stood at her full height, dressed in her iconic water tribe garb, having no indication of wounds nor worries. Shockingly, she looked calm, serene even. It was like none of what surrounded her was puzzling, almost as if she had known this was how it was always going to end.

"We're in the Spirit World." The Avatar spoke and looked to the great expanse before them. "When I jumped in front of that beam, the power I felt was beyond what I can really comprehend. I've never felt such pure power, and if I'm honest, I'll likely never feel anything like it for the rest of my life. It was incredible. Incredible enough to create this new portal between the worlds it would seem."

Kuvira didn't respond. She couldn't. Here was this woman that had just saved her life, even after Kuvira had tried to kill her several times, just chatting like it was the most normal thing in the world. They were enemies through and through. For the Avatar to even consider saving her life was unimaginable to the young dictator for she knew if the situation was reversed that she wouldn't even have let the thought cross her mind. She was truly bewildered and could do nothing more than stare completely aghast as the Avatar continued.

_Why did she save me? _She thought to herself, as she remembered the moment the Avatar threw herself between her helpless form and the devastating spirit beam.

"Can't say I expected to be here, you know, living and breathing and such." Korra said with a chuckle as she turned towards the astonished woman. "I thought for sure that I was gonna be coaching the next victim in the Avatar Cycle much sooner than I originally planned. Definitely not disappointed with the results."

Anger gripped the Great Uniter's heart as all of her memories flooded back through her mind. This woman that had not only just defeated her in battle, but effectively dethroned her and destroyed her empire, was now laughing like it all meant nothing. She laughed like it was all a game. Had the Avatar saved her life only to rub it in her face? She clenched her fists at the thought.

"Why!" Kuvira barked, anger very much obvious in her voice and posture.

"What do you mean?" The young avatar asked with a quirked brow.

"Why did you save me!" Her tone was still of anger, cracking with pure emotion. "Why would you throw yourself between me and the Spirit Canon?"

Her mind was being overloaded with feelings that all conflicted each other as she waited for an answer. The anger was still present, but confusion and uncertainty were quickly beginning to crush her resolve. She was on the proverbial edge and Korra was about to push her over with only a few words.

"I didn't really think about it." Korra replied, still calm and stoic. "It just felt like the right thing to do."

The simple reply came as a knockout punch to Kuvira's remaining fury. This was a woman that she had belittled and degraded in front of the world, not to mention her attempt to outright murder her, yet here she was now still alive because that same woman decided not to even the score. The Avatar could've easily let her perish under the light of her own doomsday weapon, but she didn't because her morality said 'no'. It was no hard decision, either. Korra never second guessed or thought about it, she just jumped into the fray with no regard for herself.

"How… how can you say that, after everything I did…" Kuvira's voice drifted off and her eyes fell.

Silence reigned between the two. It was apparent by the look on Korra's face that she was struggling to find an answer to the question.

"I remember back at Laghima's Peak all those years ago when I saw you fight and heard how you saved my father from his fall. In that moment, I saw some of myself in you." Korra smiled at the memory, one that used to instill terror now brought happiness and pride. "I guess even after all this time I still do."

"We are not the same!" Kuvira snarled, briefly breaking from her emotional stupor.

"We're both fierce and determined, hotheaded for sure." Korra was completely undeterred by the sudden outburst of anger, an empathetic smile gracing her features. "We're both masters in bending and major players on the world stage. I'd say there are some similarities"

"You're the Avatar, beloved by millions and a paragon of hope to the world since the day you were born." Kuvira started, swinging her arm in a wide arc to accentuate her meaning. "I was tossed aside by my own parents, like a stray dog...like...like I meant nothing to them! Don't pretend that you know anything about me."

"Perhaps, you're right." Even still, Korra had a look of serenity and peace about her. It was commanding yet warm. "But I think I understand, now."

"You understand nothing!" Kuvira lashed with an accusatory finger, however, the threat fell flat as she winced from the pain that wracked her body. "How could you possibly understand?"

"You never recovered from that abandonment, did you? Not really." Her tone was sympathetic rather than condemning. "All this, saving the Earth Kingdom and becoming the Great Uniter, it was because of them. Wasn't it?"

"No...It's not." She tried to fight against the Avatar's words, but it was futile. The damage had already been done. She was right and Kuvira knew it. "Shut up, you know nothing!"

She could see it all with a new inexplicable clarity. What had once been shrouded in a grey haze of false justification and childish pride was now transparent. Whether it was the fact that she had been defeated or some unknown effect of being in the Spirit World, she couldn't be sure, but it didn't matter either way. Where she was once blind, she could see and what she saw was nothing besides brutal truth. She had become exactly what Suyin had warned her she would become.

She had become a monster.

She could see that now. Just like the beasts in the tales Su told her as a young girl, she was cruel and cunning with no sense of right or wrong to be found. Everything had become justifiable if it served to push her mission forward, a mission she could no longer even define. Once her goal had been simple, but somewhere things changed and what was once simple had become complicated. As the complexity of her campaign grew, the ideals she had once claimed as her own became muddied. Where it had all gone wrong, Kuvira didn't know. Perhaps it had never been right to begin with.

This newfound clarity felt like a lead weight upon the defeated tyrant's shoulders and quite literally brought Kuvira to her knees. The physical pain from her wounds and the crushing guilt she now began to feel was overwhelming. It came in like a Tsunami, bringing destruction to her once steadfast will. Her emotions were so strong she began to feel physically sick to her stomach, her eyes stinging with tears that had yet to fall.

"None of this was supposed to happen." Kuvira's voice was nothing more than a quiet rasp amongst the din of the spirit world. The tears she fought so hard against now slid slowly down her bruised cheek and fell to the purple and pink flowers of the field that surrounded her. "If you'd all just have surrendered…"

"Kuvira, just stop." Korra's voice became stern as she got down on one knee and became level with her distraught opponent. "You know that was never going to happen. Between the rehabilitation camps, your giant death machine, and the invasion of Republic City, you had to know what you were doing was wrong and that we would have to fight back."

"What was I supposed to do?" Kuvira shouted and looked up to meet the Avatar's gaze as the tears began to fall in earnest.

Korra recoiled when their eyes met, so much so that she fell from her kneeling position and landed on her rear end. She wasn't looking at the Great Uniter any longer. That once cold mask had been removed and only the face of a long abandoned child of Zaofu remained. The sight caused a pang of guilt in Korra. She was the reason that Kuvira was reduced to this state. Regardless of whether she was justified or not, it didn't stop her from feeling empathy for the fallen dictator.

"The Queen was dead. The whole nation was falling into complete chaos! Su refused to leave the safety of her domes an-and you were gone. There was nobody!" Kuvira was yelling, but there was no anger. "The refugees just kept coming and coming, day after day. Families were split and entire towns destroyed, tell me Avatar, how I could standby and do nothing? How could I abandon them in their time of need? How could I do what was done to me?"

Korra could only sit in silence as she watched the sniveling woman. There was nothing she could say in response as Kuvira was right. She had disappeared and there had been no one to fill the power vacuum left by the assissination of the Earth Queen. The chaos and destruction the Red Lotus created was perpetuated by her inaction and even Suyin's to a lesser degree. In some ways the rise of the Great Uniter was her fault as well. There was no denying that she had neglected her duty as Avatar, poisoned or not.

"I-I-I never meant for all this. I wanted to save my people from the despair brought on by the Red Lotus. I wanted to bring an equality and-and unity to the Earth Nation that hadn't been seen since before I was even born. I wanted my home to be safe."

Kuvira sniffled as she spoke, completely unable to hold in the emotions that she now felt as her inner turmoil caused the truth to finally surface. She was not lying when she stated her intentions for she truly had wanted to help her shattered homeland. She had longed to save her people and in some ways she had fulfilled that goal. There was now improved infrastructure throughout the rural areas allowing for better resource management and public transit. Her takeover also sparked a technological revolution in the nation that was once notorious for falling behind the other nations. On top of that, her nation had been united and was no longer under the reign of lawless bandits and ruthless brigands.

These were all good things that came of her reign, but they did come at a cost and Kuvira knew the tradeoff was not balanced in hindsight. She had sacrificed the freedom and autonomy of her people in the name of progress and safety. She had taken a land that had been plunged into disarray and turned into a united empire that was ruled by an iron fist, her iron fist. In her days as Captain of Zaofu, she could remember how she despised the greedy Queen Hou-Ting. The despicable woman stole from her people to keep her banquet tables stocked and her treasury full. Now, however, she knew that she was worse than the late Queen.

"The camps and the servitude, I never foresaw any of that when I left Zaofu. I just...I just thought I was making the hard decisions that needed to be made for the better of the people. I thought I was saving them." Kuvira bowed her head, unable to meet the gaze of her saviour any longer as her desperate words slipped out between sobs. She felt weak and unworthy, not deserving to look upon the face of a truly noble woman such as Korra. "I'm sorry, Avatar. I never meant-I never meant for any of this. Please believe me, Avatar, please! I'm sorry!"

Compassion swelled inside the heart of the young Avatar for she knew that the words spoken were true. She knew that Kuvira was finally being honest for the first time in a very long time. With a gentleness she rarely showed, she reached out and touched the fallen woman's shoulder. Unlike before, there was no recoil or angry outburst at the contact.

"I believe you, Kuvira."

Kuvira looked up at the reply. Matted hair blocked her tear stained cheeks, but her eyes still fixed firm on the woman before her. Her sobbing had stopped but the anguish she felt only continued to grow. She knew she didn't deserve this great mercy of not only being allowed to live, but to be believed when she spoke. Again, Korra had left her in complete awe.

"I'm sorry as well." Korra began, still meeting Kuvira's gaze with one of her own. "If I hadn't left the south pole and disappeared, none of this would've happened as it did. I failed as the Avatar and you reaped the consequences. For that, I am sorry, Kuvira."

Kuvira was stunned, unable to reply or even blink at the words that had been spoken.

"You don't have to accept my apology." Korra said with a sad smile. "It's a little late for apologies, for the both of us I'd imagine. While I do believe you are sorry, forgiveness won't come easy for either of us I'm afraid. When we step out of this portal there will be consequences."

Korra helped the defeated woman to her feet, not realizing the agony it caused to rip through Kuvira's body. Quickly, her arm shot up to her midsection to brace her ribs that were more than likely broken. She hadn't taken a step, but knew that if she was gonna walk then it would be with a limp, at the very least. None of this pain, however, felt worse than the knot that filled her stomach. The Avatar's words had provoked another emotion in her that was far worse than any pain.

"I'm scared, Avatar." Kuvira finally spoke, her tone uncharacteristically soft as her free hand wiped the tears from her eyes. "Can't you just leave me here? Tell them all I died in the explosion?"

"Come on, you know that can't happen." Korra chuckled and reached out her hand, inviting Kuvira to come with her. "I promise you won't be alone in this. We'll meet our fates together."

The former dictator only nodded in response, fear leaving her unable to speak. She would not meet anyone as forgiving as Korra on the other side of the portal, or even this side of the portal when she thought about it. Spirits and humans alike all had reason to despise her and she couldn't blame them. She had been awful to both man and creature alike. There would be little mercy to be found anywhere for her and it's exactly what she deserved.

Completely unprompted, Korra threw Kuvira's arm over her shoulder and began to help her hobble towards the portal. As she predicted, every step was indeed painful. The exertion it took to walk only caused more pain upon breathing on top of the general soreness she felt from head to toe. With only a few steps left to the portal, Kuvira looked back to the field behind her and took in its beauty one last time. One last look at life as a free woman.

A flash of light blinded Kuvira as she passed through the newly created gate, a wild wind of bitter cold overtaking her as the sense of warmth from the Spirit World faded into memory. She blinked her eyes a few times in an attempt to adjust to the near darkness around her. She could still feel Korra holding onto her which was a great comfort in the moment. It was an odd feeling to have her greatest enemy also be her greatest comfort, but she accepted it for she had no other choice. It was either that or face her consequences on her own.

"It's over, Kuvira!" An all too familiar voice rang out. "Surrender now!"

"Let her go!" An aggressive voice countered, speaking as though into a microphone.

Once her eyes adjusted to her surroundings, she couldn't help her first thoughts of potential escape. An entire division of mechanized troops and dozens of foot soldiers surrounded them with only a few of Korra's allies around, all in less than ideal shape for a fight. She could have ordered them to open fire and escaped in the ensuing chaos. It would have been the simplest thing in the world and all it would take was a single order, but she couldn't.

Her eyes could see, but more importantly, her heart could feel the destruction that her cannon had created. The Spirit wilds that had been at the heart of the metropolis were no longer to be found and in their place was a giant crater where the new spirit portal shot into the sky. Entire blocks of the city had been turned to nothing more than dust and rubble. Those that weren't completely annihilated were left crumbling where they stood. The whole area was completely uninhabitable and it was all because of her.

"Stop!" Kuvira felt herself roar the words, gaining back some semblance of her former poise.

Both parties halted in their advances towards the other and stared at who they once knew as the Great Uniter, but neither lowered their guard. Both sides still believed there was a battle to be won, neither knowing that the two women that emerged had already resolved their heated conflict. It had been a vicious fight and there had been no doubt on who the enemy was. Now, however, they looked on in confusion at the Avatar who braced the once Great Uniter on her shoulder.

Silence reigned for moments that felt like hours. No one had dared to speak before Kuvira finished what she had to say. Even in her battered state she commanded respect and attention from subordinates and foes alike; None of them aware of the fear that threatened to overtake her resolve nor of the understanding that she and Korra had come to on the other side of the portal.

"Stand down. I surrender." Her words pierced through the silence, daring anyone to contest them.

"But Great Uniter we ha-" A lone soldier stammered out, a look of shock on his face.

"No!" Her voice boomed, causing the soldier to sheepishly slink away. "This fight is over."

With no sign of deception evident, Kuvira limped away from Korra and held her hands in front of her. She was finished and it was time for her to 'face her fate' as Korra had put it. There was no use in speeches or gallantry for there was nothing left to be said. She had been a roaring lion for many years and now it all came to the end like the passing of wind.

"No tricks or conditions?" Chief Beifong finally spoke, an eyebrow quirked with suspicion

"None." She said, gesturing for the cuffs to be fitted around her wrists. "I surrender to the Avatar. Unconditionally."

In a final act of submission, she bowed her head, gesturing to all gathered that what she said was nothing but the honest truth. One by one, the soldiers followed in the steps of their leader and gave up the fight once and for all. Kuvira felt some pride in the loyalty of those that followed her. They were no doubt confused and bewildered by her surrender yet they obeyed their orders, each and every one.

"You'll pay for all you've done." The bitter words hissed from Suyin Beifong's lips as she clasped the platinum cuffs around the once proud woman's wrists.

The Earth Empire, much like it's Great Uniter, was finished and an uncertain future lay ahead in the shadow of its swift destruction.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

And here it is, the revamped and new beginning for Softened Metal. This new version of the story has some great features like:

A coherent narrative

Characters that make sense

Consistent quality in the writing

And last but not least, no chapters that are nearly 10,000 words of pure dialogue

It's been about a year since I started writing this story and now I think I can actually do it properly, or at least less bad than before. Upon looking at my old version I saw that there wasn't much about it that I liked and even more of it I actively despised. I had very little plan and was just writing and hoping it ended up somewhere good. In a way, it did give the story some heart and honesty but none that made up for the tons and tons of amateurish mistakes that littered the narrative. With this new version and direction I do think there is more interest to be had for both me as the writer and you all as the readers. Thank you all for bearing with me in all this and hopefully the new direction keeps you just as interested as I am.

Thanks Again,

ArtisticOutlet.


End file.
